Old Studebaker eludes junkyard as sentimental bidder takes the plunge

Saturday

Sep 14, 2013 at 8:30 AM

Cars are like bookmarks. They take us back to a time, place or event in our lives and remind us of good times, loved ones or somewhere we went.

Dave Clarke

Cars are like bookmarks. They take us back to a time, place or event in our lives and remind us of good times, loved ones or somewhere we went. I was reunited Wednesday with one of those “bookmarks,” my grandmother’s 1947 Studebaker Champion, at Harold Schieler’s sale west of town.When Grandma stopped driving, it was the car I drove to high school. Also being sold was a 1937 John Deere “B” Harold bought from my dad in the mid-70s along with the Studebaker.My sister Carolyn, brother Kevin and I had been trading e-mails for more than a week after seeing them on auctioneer Jim Folger’s website.We weren’t worried about the tractor. Harold had restored it to mint condition and we knew there would be a number of people wanting to add it to their collection, but we were concerned about the Studebaker.It had always been under roof and Harold even had it running for a few years, but an undriveable 66-year-old car in rough shape is a prime target for people wanting to buy it for scrap. Harold listed it as “restorable” on the sale bill, but my siblings and I weren’t sure there would be any collectors or someone who would want to restore it at the sale, especially since it was mostly made up of antique farm machinery. The Champion was the only car on the sale.My sister and brother-in-law, Doug, got busy and posted the auction on several Studebaker websites in hopes of attracting a bidder who might want the car. Brother Kevin tracked down the original weight and price of the car when it was new. I then checked with Mike Cernovich on what scrap metal was bringing a ton. My thought was to wait until the car was sold. If it went to a scrapper, offer them the scrap metal price or a little more, then post it on the Internet where it would be exposed to people looking for that kind of car. After all the years and all the care and all the memories, I just wasn’t ready to see the Studebaker reduced to a metal cube at the junkyard.When I saw the car for the first time in nearly 40 years Wednesday, I was even more convinced it was worth saving. Naturally, it was dirty, rusted in a few spots and the grill was a little dented, but Harold was right — it would take work, but not be impossible to put it back in roadworthy condition.Everything from the motor to the spare tire in the trunk was still there. One rear window was broken, but the rest of the glass was intact. Headlights and taillights were all there. There were no big dents or missing body parts. All four doors still worked. The black, car-shaped plate from Commercial Motors in Kewanee, where Grandma bought the car, was still attached above the the trunk handle.The interior looked about the same. The covers on the front seat were pretty ragged and partly missing, but the original wine-colored vinyl was still on the back seat. The upholstery was still in place and the steering wheel Grandma and I had held so many years was right where we left it, along with the turn signal, gear shift and dash board.Standing near the car when I arrived were Mr. and Mrs. Bob DeSchepper of Annawan, and their son, Rich, of rural Altona. The DeScheppers lived in Wyoming for many years.Bob, originally from Neponset, explained his first car out of high school in 1955 was a 2-door 1947 Studebaker Champion. He remembered the car had overdrive — a new feature back then — and shared some of his memories. I knew he was interested in the car. There were a number of people looking it over and Harold said several lookers had been out during the week. They had also received a phone bid. At that point, my strategy changed. I felt confident someone in the crowd would buy the car to keep, not scrap it, so I decided to let the sale take its course and not try to “save the Studebaker.”Jim Folger started the sale promptly at 11 a.m. and there was a pretty good crowd for a small, but quality sale. He went through two hayracks and a trailer full of odds and ends, then headed down a row that included a two-row John Deere mounted corn picker, an old cook stove and other items, then came to the Studebaker. I was surprised when Jim held up the original 1947 owner’s manual which had probably been stored in the glove compartment all this time. He then opened the bidding at $1,000. Bob raised his hand. Jim took the bidding up a step, then backed off, but no one else jumped in. Bob had just bought Grandma Johnson’s — and Harold Schieler’s — ‘47 Studebaker. Bob was all smiles as I took a picture of him with Harold holding up the owner’s manual. He then promised to give me a ride once the car is restored. I’m looking forward to that.I knew Harold had kept the John Deere through a number of his earlier sales because it was the same year and model as his dad’s first tractor, and finally got to ask him why he saved the Studebaker all these years. He really didn’t know. He’d never owned a Studebaker. He just thought it was a neat little car and liked to work on it. He said it last ran when he drove it into the shed and left it there because he didn’t want to odometer to pass 10,000 miles.My brother did come up with a Schieler connection to the car. He said our mother drove him and Harold’s nephew, Greg, son of the late Ray and Nellie Schieler, to kindergerten at Wethersfield in the Studebaker. Ray lived where Bill and Norma Good now reside, so it was on the way.I had an appointment Wednesday afternoon so couldn’t stay for the sale of the John Deere, but understand when it came up for bids, Brett Bennett cranked the fly wheel to start the tractor which, according to several who were there, “ran like a watch.”I checked with Harold later and found that a Galesburg John Deere collector named Dale Carlson outbid another interested party and paid over $4,000 for the “B” which, again, had been restored by Harold to parade condition.It was a good day all around. Harold Schieler was very happy with how things went at the sale and, of course, my siblings and I are relieved that the old Studebaker found a new home with a nice family instead of the end of the road at a junk yard. It will take some work, but we’re confident the DeSchepper family will do a good job of restoring the car and, hopefully, have fun doing it. Several people can now add new “bookmarks” to their life’s car memories.